My father is 84 in February. Older age does of course bring some challenges but one thing which never fails to put a spring in my father’s step is the fact he has now been retired from the civil service for longer than he worked for the civil service. Both he and my mother had retired by the time they were 57.
At the time, this was not unusually young to retire. State pension age was 60 for women and 65 for men. It was before the Employment Age Equality Regulations came into force in 2006 and consequently it was still legally possible to force people to retire at 65. That being the case most people did plan for retirement by 65 at the latest, and earlier if they could afford it.
Now that state pension age is 67 for both men and women (rising to 68 between 2044 and 2046) and the default retirement age of 65 has been scrapped for 16 years, many of us could not contemplate retiring in our 50s. According to ONS statistics there are over six million UK adults aged 55-plus who still work. 41% plan to delay retirement, keep working part time or keep working full time, equating to 2.5 million people.
